Nobody Saves the World review: An RPG that gets the grind right

No one saves the world You will be thrown a lot of strange stuff. It’s a Drinkbox Studios joint, after all, a go-to name for zany video game humor. I found myself laughing out loud at almost all of the ironies and other deadpan details.

When my stage magician character summoned his familiar, I prayed it would be the white tiger, not because it’s so powerful, but because it turns into a luxurious rug when it dies. A kindly witch sent me on a fetch quest and thanked me profusely for saving her sick husband — then immediately blamed me when a villager asked where the hell all the medicine went. A tavern mercenary with a rigid, constipated expression introduces himself as “the one-punch monk,” who can annihilate any rat with a single blow. After the encounter I was unable to remember anything about him and I realized that I had never learned how I could survive his fist. That might be the joke; I’m not sure.

The best thing about this witty, meaty RPG is the constant dopamine rush of its gameplay loop. No one saves the world Gets grind right. The pivotal stages of the game are secured by accomplishing a series of repeating granular goals. Each dungeon is manned by enemies with increasing strength. Never was I in the unfortunate position to grind out an attribute score increase just so that I could defeat the opposition. It was all stuff I had to work up and for. InterestingI went to the next dungeons in order to experience it firsthand and to get rid of any boss.

No one saves the world, you’re the literal Nobody — a featureless, vacant-eyed anthropomorph who backs into the hero job after the kingdom’s arch-mage goes missing. Nobody is a shape-shifter, thanks to the magic wand they immediately recover while dull-witted NPCs argue over who’s in charge now. For the remainder of the game, players will unlock various forms that sound like they came out of a developer’s bull session where no idea was rejected: Bodybuilder, dragon, and mermaid (a hideous one, at that) go along with more traditional roles like Rogue, Guard, and Ranger. And then there’s the Horse, an appropriately ornery form that’s tricky to wield.

Grid View

All these may appear non-sequiturs cosmetically. But thanks to No one saves the world’s simple, balanced combat — four types of damage, enemies randomly vulnerable or immune to one type of it — every form always paired well with another’s combat perks, attribute scores, or even their means of traversal. You can also find other information. Nobody’s benevolent system of grind and reward always had me trying new powers or revisiting different attacks. Getting to the next big chapter often required marking off a series of more sundry goals from each character’s respective to-do list. What I found was that almost everything I had unlocked could be used through prolonged combat. This is refreshing, especially considering the trunk lines of my characters. Skyrim Assassin’s Creed perks that I have never touched in more than a decade.

For example, I may not have preferred the Horse’s blunt-damage backward kick — it required me to face the Horse away from a threat, then hold my right trigger to keep it faced that way. But needing some quick stars, which gate the bigger dungeons, I found I was closest to completing a few missions on the Horse’s schedule. Along the way, I discovered that Horse can attack simultaneously in two different directions if you give it the Ranger’s volley-of-arrows attack. And with Ranger’s “poison-tipped” perk, Horsey can inflict even more pain. Although the arrow attack can drain mana, Horse has a lower mana-bar than other forms, but I was able to pick up another perk which allowed me to recover even more by simply breaking containers using my primary attack.

Keep the vision of the bigger picture in mind by setting smaller and more focused goals. No one saves the world’s It is not possible to have linear progression. A lot of games and RPGs with perk tree systems aim to achieve non-linear progress, but players find that moving sequentially in a game is more efficient and less time-consuming than advancing linearly. No one saves the world’s mix-and-match system, plus the baddies’ collection of wards and vulnerabilities, kept me tinkering with my builds, which is fun in and of itself. My main build exemplified and optimized my preferred playing style (it’s in the Rat, actually), and then I had one or two others to deal with whatever task or dungeon was immediately at hand. The next dungeon, I found the perfect lure by rummaging through the menus.

Although the dungeons’ beginning and end areas can be standardized, they are procedurally generated. However, there are many other factors that affect their design. Many enemies within dungeons will have unique vulnerabilities and immunities that require players to choose a form of damage, whether it is light or dark, blunt or sharp. You can alter these parameters if you fail to complete a Dungeon or re-enter the game. This could lead to my one complaint. No one saves the world: A frustrating difficulty spike when you are being mobbed repeatedly by enemies with various weaknesses. This requires fast switches. There’s a weapon-wheel for changing forms, but as a frenetic battle plays out in the background, it can be hard to see exactly which character you’re choosing.

Image: Drinkbox Studios

That said, I thought I detected the game easing down on the baddies’ wards and buffs if I failed a site multiple times. Early on I found myself stuck at The Eldritch Gourd (a huge rotting pumpkin), and struggled to use the correct attacks to cause damage. While the icons that betray an enemy’s vulnerability can be hard to discern on such a busy screen, an unsatisfying clanking noise always lets you know if you’re doing it wrong. After some deep breathing and about half an hour of grinding on other maps, I returned the Gourd to find that very few monsters have wards. So I took a break and continued eating with the Rat.

Nobody’s overworld, players should routinely feel like they are overpowered, chewing through any enemy horde of equivalent or lower level. The underworld then steps in with a head slap, reminding me that I haven’t actually stumbled upon some game-breaking secret sauce, without killing my hope that I actually will someday.

Which No one saves the world The dungeon’s sweet spot is where it presents a challenging but manageable task that requires a few minutes of careful loadout tweaking, and enough quick-twitch gamingpad skills to ensure every strike and shot count. The white-knuckle finishes to these boss fights aren’t a sign your idea barely worked; they’re proof that great video game design, in the hands of an interested and entertained player, can take a happy menagerie of rejects and salvaged parts and make them work together brilliantly.

No one saves the world On January 18, 2018, it was made public. Windows PC, Xbox OneAnd Xbox Series XIt is also available via Xbox Game Pass on all platforms. This is also available via Windows PC Steam. Drinkbox Studios gave a code for the review of this game to Xbox Series X. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Find out more. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.